In June 2008, for the first time, the Tilsit Orphan Education Fund hosted five girls and two teachers for a monthlong cultural exchange visit to America. They spent two weeks with host families in Sacramento, California, and two weeks with host families in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were introduced to a variety of activities including their first restaurant meal, a high school graduation ceremony, private tours of a hospital and of the Utah State Capitol, quiltmaking, makeovers, and visits to San Francisco, Muir Woods National Monument, the beach, an amusement park, a live theatre production, and river rafting.
